(3 of 11)
I've vowed to do my duty and to gain the upper hand,
But they've made me out a villain, they have stamped me with a brand,
As we go marching on . . .
Michael Brower, first vice chairman of the Massachusetts Americans for Democratic Action, spoke for those who wanted the nation's leaders put in the dock along with Calley. "The guilt of My Lai runs up the chain of command into the White House," he said. "The Army is trying to sacrifice one or two low-level officers as token scapegoats." The most extraordinary demonstration against the verdict from the antiwar side was staged in Manhattan's Wall Street by the Viet Nam Veterans Against the War. Smack in front of the New York Stock Exchange, a dozen veterans in fatigue jackets passed out leaflets next to a big white van showing a film of American atrocities in Viet Nam. John Kerry, a former gunboat skipper who won a Silver Star in Viet Nam and was wounded three times, read a prepared statement: "We are all of us in this country guilty for having allowed the war to go on. We only want this country to realize that it cannot try a Calley for something which generals and Presidents and our way of life encouraged him to do. And if you try him, then at the same time you must try all those generals and Presidents and soldiers who have part of the responsibility. You must in fact try this country."
The Calley jurors—all up-from-the-ranks officers, all combat veterans, all but one of whom fought in Viet Nam —defended their unanimous verdict. Said Major Charles Mclntosh: "It had to be done. Somebody had to do it. We were the six." Said Major Walter Kinard: "We looked for anything that would prove Lieut. Calley innocent. We gave Lieut. Calley every benefit of doubt." Somberly Major Harvey Brown confessed: "I wanted to believe it didn't happen, that it was a hoax. I'll have to live with this verdict the rest of my life."
Nuremberg Standards
Thus far, Calley is the only man involved in the My Lai affair to be convicted by a court-martial. In all, 25 officers and enlisted men have been charged with various offenses in connection with the incident. Army Chief of Staff William C. Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces in Viet Nam at the time of My Lai, recently recommended administrative punishment—demotion by one grade—for Calley's division commander, Major General Samuel Koster, and his assistant, Brigadier General George Young Jr., for failing to report the incident. General Koster was also officially censured. Those relatively minor strictures against general officers, compared with the harsher treatment of a young platoon leader, made the Army vulnerable to the suggestion that it had singled Calley out to carry the can for My Lai. Two sergeants in Calley's company were court-martialed for assault with intent to commit murder and acquitted.
Only three men, all officers, still have charges pending against them. Colonel Oran Henderson, Calley's brigade commander, is accused of helping to cover up the massacre; pretrial hearings in the Henderson case began last week. Captain Eugene Kotouc, a member of Calley's task force, is charged with assault and maiming. Calley's immediate superior, Captain Ernest Medina, still faces charges of murder and assault; he